It had been an exhausting time at work, with most of my days, nights and weekends spent on one task, working along with a few super-passionate and dedicated colleagues. I had travelled to the head office on a red-eye flight, and was scheduled to head back on another red-eye. I was feeling physically and mentally exhausted.
The deliverable the team was working on wasn't in the best of shape, and there was anxiety about the quality and outcome of all our efforts. Finger-pointing is not a desirable aspect of corporate culture, but as we all know, it can and does happen!
As the icing on the cake, I had just been rapped on the knuckles by the boss, for spending too much time on this task and thereby dropping the ball on some others.
I was on a self-pity trip as the cab driver navigated onto the elevated road near Electronic City. This is normally a high-speed, free-flowing road. But this was the day when everything seemed to be against me! We drove straight into a traffic jam - the wave of vehicles ahead was crawling, not flowing.
"Breakdown, or accident" I said to the cab driver, and we both grimaced in irritation. I looked ahead to see if any of the lanes ahead of us were moving slowly - if the blockage was in our lane, we could maybe save time by edging into another lane.
I noticed that there was no traffic coming from the opposite direction. This was strange - why should traffic on both sides be affected if there was a barrier in between, and no crossing points? The cab edged forward and suddenly, a grisly scene came into view on the other side of the barrier. I could make out two cars, both bearing marks of deep impact, one crushed motorbike and an obscured view of a human shape lying on the road with a lifeless arm outstretched. It must have happened just a few minutes ago. There were no police or ambulances on the spot as yet.
All traffic in the oncoming lanes had stopped and the people nearest to the accident were standing around, in a state of shock.
Who knows which of the vehicles or drivers had caused the accident. Maybe it was a cascading set of miscalculations by multiple drivers. Maybe it was just one person behaving rashly. Maybe it was a catastrophic mechanical failure on one of the vehicles. But whatever be the cause, a fellow human being's life had been snuffed out in an instant, on that cool morning in Bangalore.
The shockwaves from this incident would probably change the trajectory of the family and friends of the deceased. All those who witnessed the accident and survived would be scarred mentally.
And why was the traffic on our side of the road crawling, if the accident had taken place on the other side? Because in India, people just have to stop and take a good look at a tragedy, don't they!
As soon as we passed the spot, all the vehicles picked up speed.
I reached the office and was at my desk within ten minutes. Back to work!
But somehow, I wasn't pitying myself any longer...
8 comments:
🥲🙏 Paranoid safety needed by all drivers and defensive driving training too (in many countries this is part of license requirement) !
Way of life.. while we lament about our worldly issues, death can come anytime but life goes on…
Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani
…….. And somehow, I wasn’t pitying myself any longer …… attitude changes to gratitude! Absolutely relatable!
When I was in 1st year engineering, something similar happened on the sancheti bridge going to college. It was a Saturday morning. College had morning lectures. A friend and I were going up the bridge double seat on her Luna for whom that bridge was as difficult to cross as mount everest. A truck came down the slope from the other side. A mother son duo was standing on the road divider to cross. The truck drove fast and too close to the divider, knocked the young man. I remember the thud, the brakes. By the time I realised what had happened, the Luna was on the downward slop of the brudge towards college entrance. I remember shaking when i reached college. And then couldn’t stop thinking. The mother and son must’ve someone admitted in Sancheti. Or they might’ve come for their own treatment. Should I have stopped and helped? Were my classes more important than someone’s life? What could a 17 yo have done? Would I be able to face that trauma of seeing someone under the truck wheels? What would I say if I go to the police station… 2 days passed in the whirlwind of thoughts. The intensity reduced. And life as normal resumed. I still remember the incident whenever i cross that place and guilt comes back heavily.
Shrirang a fact of life , sometimes difficult to accept. You have written it so well. Life goes on regardless.
Our anxieties, insecurities, self pity type moments etc generally do get resolved some time or the other, but the timeline to bounce back depends upon one's attitudinal habit in knowing how to bounce back. ( The degree of optimism, self confidence , resilience etc). However it is human nature that when one sees someone else experiencing situations far worse than ours that it helps one reduce the significance of whatever emotion is troubling us. Nicely narrated Shrirang. Hope your boss reads it too.
The beauty of life is that these point-in-time reflections on what’s truly valuable and priority gets warily overwritten by the next immediate deadline and other mundane concerns and that’s both good and bad.. good because it enables us to move on and bad because it many are able to take the lessons from those reflections and carry it with them for long enough to make meaningful impact to their lives.. a good ne Shrirang.
Life is so precious and in today’s fast life we often tend to take it for granted not knowing the cascading impact to our loved one’s back home. Good one Shrirang !
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